Staying Gold
by stay-goldKat
Summary: Ponyboy struggles to honor both promises of his late friends, but when something goes down with the Socs, will he be able to keep them? Just a brief one-shot! All belongs to S.E.Hinton!


"Staying Gold"

The Outsiders by S.E Hinton

It's been a few months since everything happened. I haven't missed a day of school since the week of the trial when I was sick and delirious, not that Darry would allow it anyway. He was just happy the school wasn't going to hold me back or kick me out. After all, I probably missed a whole month between Windrixville and the trial.

I turned in my semester theme a couple of weeks after I got back. It took my teacher a few days to read it. I was pretty nervous about what he'd say. My theme was more than just some dull paper, it was my life story that hundreds of boys like me shared. I wanted to share our story, our real struggles, with someone. Not that I needed to worry, Mr. Symes, my English teacher, said that it needed to be shared. So he helped me publish it.

The boys in our gang were pretty hacked off at my portrayal of them, as well as impressed and proud. I was more impressed that Two-Bit had even read some! The forever junior at eighteen-and-a-half actually cracked open a book. He didn't mind his character and said, "Shoot, kid, I couldn't have written me any better! Too bad you got Steve spot on as well. Ha Ha!" Steve growled something I couldn't hear and sent me an evil look. It wasn't like I was trying to make him look bad. He did that on his own.

The Socs seemed rather mellow since the book was published. It seems like all of Tulsa had read or at least heard of it. The Socs hung back, probably thinking people would be harder on them now, giving them fewer breaks. They still weren't friendly by any means, but their actions were light and mostly directed at me. They would bump me in the halls, say mean things, or try to get me into trouble, but that was nothing compared to when they would jump us just to beat us or try to kill us. The world had finally opened their eyes to see what we saw.

As for Johnny and Dally's last requests to me, I was struggling. How can you stay young and innocent while being hard and tough? I didn't see a middle ground between them. I often wondered if Dally had seen a sunset, would he have felt differently? So I tried to live my promises as the occasion called. I wouldn't take anything from the Socs, but I wouldn't let them keep me from watching sunsets or the clouds. I could find a way to stay gold while getting tough. It just wouldn't be easy.

Consequently, I often found myself wandering around aimlessly, lost in though while looking up at the sky. Darry got mad at me for it, worrying I'd walk into a bus or something, and Soda always just asked what I was looking at. That's what I was doing when the blue Mustang pulled up behind me as I walked by the drive-in movie. There was a pretty good sunset, but I had foolishly found myself secluded behind the parked car lot, behind the fence. The voice of the Soc knocked me out of it, "Hey, greaser. You know, we've missed you because of that stupid book of yours. Makes us out to be bad guys or something." He was the tall Soc who had helped try to drown me in the fountain. They were all Bob Sheldon's friends, but I couldn't see Randy. Maybe he had gotten out of that crowd like he wanted. I hoped so.

There were five of them and I didn't think I would get out of this mess. I quickly bounced from being gold to being tough. I could hear Dally in my head, "You get tough, like me, and you don't get hurt. Get tough like me and nothing can touch you." I tensed up ready for the fight. My hand was reaching for the switchblade in my back pocket. One of the Socs stepped towards me and I whipped it out. "Mess with me, and you're gonna get hurt," I said bravely. Just like Dallas. Only, I wouldn't use it even if I had to because that wasn't who I was, but it helped a bluff.

The guy stepped back and they fanned out around me. No way I could escape now. The leader, the tall one, laughed and said, "Just like the night of the fountain. You were too weak then, I'd bet you're too weak now." I wasn't weak, I just couldn't anyone. They didn't know that though.

I took out my other hand and pressed the blade to it. I just wanted to scare them off, I didn't really want to cut myself, but I would if it could save me from a bad beating- or worse. "Would a weak person do this," I ran the blade across my palm, drawing blood, "just to prove a point?" The other guys looked like they wanted to back out now. Just back away from the crazy kid and leave. The leader wasn't buying it like I'd hoped. "Get him," he snarled. The Socs broke out of their stupor and all lunged at once. I tried swiping the blade to cut one of them (that wouldn't kill them), but just before I made contact, another Soc grabbed my arm and forced me to drop it. I forgot I was circled. I still put up a heck of a fight. Dally would have been proud. My fist made contact with tall guy's eye while my foot slide out and tripped another guy. I stepped back, standing on his chest and fighting off the rest. I got hit in the stomach hard, but, doubled over, I punched another guy and broke his nose. The guy under me was squirming and fighting so I kicked him, just enough to knock him out, in the head. One down, but there was no way I could get them all.

Some of the movie goers had heard the commotion and were standing on the inside of the fence looking on in horror. I barely gave them notice, but Two-Bit was there and when he saw me, he jumped right over to help me. He took on two which left me with just two. I got punched for looking his way and my cheek didn't thank me. The light from the setting sun glinted off his hand. I hadn't noticed the rings. They didn't give me time to straighten though and I got kicked to the ribs which knocked me to me hands and knees. I got punched a few more times, but I was entirely focused on getting up before they gave me brain damage.

"Ponyboy!" Two-Bit shouted. One of his guys was down so he charged and knocked my guys off balance. It wasn't much time, but I got up and was back to slugging them and getting slugged. One of them backed off which gave me an opportunity to uppercut the other when he watched his friend abandon him. I was worse for the wear, but I got Two-Bit's guy in a headlock when I sneaked behind him. Two-Bit slugged him a few times and I dropped him so he could shakily drag his friends up to the car. I was relieved the unconcious guys wopke up quick, even if they did try to beat the daylights out of me.

Two-Bit threw a bottle he found on the ground at the retreating car. Then he stumbled back to me. He usually found his way here when he'd been drinking. 'Finally, something good came out of Two-Bit's drinking,' I thought. He stared back at me like I had two heads which worried me because I felt pretty lousy and just hoped I didn't look as messed up, but then he said, "Holy cow, kid! You just took on five Socs! And won!"

So that was it, he was just in awe, not freaked out. I shrugged, which hurt me ribs. "Yeah, well, you helped."

He shook his head. "Shoot, Pony, I just got one down. You did most of the work."

I grinned at his goofy expression which shook him out of the daze. He had a coupled of bruises, but he looked okay. That made me wonder how bad I looked, after all, I had five and he only had two. He put his arm over my shoulder and said, "C'mon kid, let's go get you cleaned up. I'd hate for Darry and Soda to think I'd let you stumble all the way home by yourself."

I playfully shrugged his arm off and shoved him off balance. "Gosh, Two-Bit, you probably just want all the hero credit!"

He raised an eyebrow and staggered back to mess up my hair. "Don't you know it!"

We walked the whole way back joking and gloating. Two-Bit was only bummed he wasted a bottle of good booze over a Socs' head. So it was more like he only fought one. I laughed, "You lazy bum! You're luck you didn't put him in the hospital!" That got me a huge Two-Bit grin. I realized he was probably worried I was growing too tough, but now he knew I was the same old Ponyboy. I'd found my balance. I could honor both promises.

Darry flipped when he saw me all banged up, but it looked worse than it war. After he cleaned me up, I looked a lot better. There was a small cut over my eye, a bunch of bruises, a split lip, and bruised ribs, but it could have been much worse. Two-Bit told the story just like I knew he would, making him out to be the hero before I corrected him on a few parts. Soda and Darry were proud, even if they wished it hadn't come down to a fight, and Steve even looked impressed. "Guess we know who to call for back up now, huh, Pony?" he said.

Darry just said, "I guess not. No more fighting, Ponyboy." He hesitated, but continued, "Good job though. I'm real proud of you, little buddy." He even smiled!

Soda added, "Well shoot Pony, we all are!" They all agreed. I've never felt so tough, and so gold.


End file.
